GENEVA (3 November 2017) – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, will carry out an official visit to Mexico from 8 to 17 November.

During her visit, Ms Tauli-Corpuz will examine diverse issues affecting indigenous peoples, including land tenure, mega-projects, political participation, access to justice, and economic, social and cultural affairs.

"I will explore the consultations undertaken to seek the free, prior and informed consent of indigenous peoples before any project affecting their lands or territories or resources is approved," said the Special Rapporteur.

"I will also seek further information on reports that indigenous rights defenders are being threatened and criminalized, and I will study the protection measures available for leaders and communities at risk."

During her 10-day mission, Ms Tauli-Corpuz will visit Mexico City, Guerrero, Chihuahua and Chiapas, and will hold meetings with state and federal authorities, as well as with indigenous and civil society organizations working for the rights of indigenous peoples. She will also visit indigenous communities to hear directly from them about their priorities and concerns.

Presentation by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz for the

Focal Point Meeting of the Latin American Network for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention

New York, 15 and 16 October 2017

Introduction

Good afternoon, I am Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples. I again would like to thank all the organizers of this event for your invitation to take part in this important panel about the current challenges in matters of mass atrocity prevention in Latin America.

As I mentioned this morning, my mandate consists primarily of examining the obstacles, challenges, barriers and good practices that exist with regards to the enjoyment of indigenous peoples' rights. My work is guided by the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UN Declaration) and other relevant international instruments for the advancement of indigenous peoples' rights. [1]

In the thematic report which I am presenting today (A/72/186), I examine the progress made in the last decade to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. 2017 marks the tenth anniversary of the adoption the Declaration in the General Assembly.

The call comes ahead of a hearing in the case of a group of four Mapuche community members who were arrested in June 2016 on charges of arson, and have remained in custody since then on pre-trial detention orders issued under the anti-terrorism law.

"The charges against these men should urgently be reviewed and they should be afforded the fair trial guarantees they would receive under the ordinary justice system," the experts said.

"These members of an indigenous community have been deprived of their liberty for 16 months. The anti-terrorism law does not offer the necessary guarantees for a fair trial, and its use risks the stigmatization of the indigenous community. It also puts in doubt the suspects' right to be presumed innocent."

They added: "We urge Chile to refrain from using the anti-terrorism law to deal with events that occurred in the context of social protests by Mapuche peoples seeking to claim their rights."

The experts also stressed that legislation against terrorism had to be precisely worded to ensure that it applied only to situations that truly threatened national security.

I have the honor to present today my fourth annual report to the Human Rights Council. I would like to start by expressing my gratitude to the numerous States, indigenous peoples, and others, and in particular to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, for the support they have provided as I have carried out my mandate over the past year.

After personally witnessing decades of injustice for the world's Indigenous Peoples, I welcomed this global commitment to our rights. The lack of secure rights to own and manage our lands has been at the heart of our struggles for centuries now. The forests and rivers we rely on and have managed for generations are prime targets for either destruction - through mining, logging, and dams - or conservation. Either way, the fact that we live there has almost always been seen as an obstacle.

The Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples is collecting information in preparation of her country visit to Mexico scheduled to take place from 8 to 17 November 2017.

In accordance with the established practice of mandate-holders, the Special Rapporteur welcomes all relevant submissions that indigenous organisations and other stakeholders may wish to transmit for her consideration in preparation of this visit, such as:

Recent analytical reports or surveys on indigenous peoples in Mexico

Information on the policy, programmes and legal framework with respect to indigenous peoples

Priority issues/concerns and situations that warrant the attention of the Special Rapporteur

Suggestions on issues to examine and related locations to visit

Contact info for indigenous organisations and civil society representatives to meet in different regions in relation to suggested locations to visit

International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples - Wednesday 9 August 2017

GENEVA / NEW YORK (7 August 2017) – The world's indigenous peoples still face huge challenges a decade after the adoption of an historic declaration on their rights, a group of United Nations experts and specialist bodies has warned. Speaking ahead of the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples on 9 August, the group says States must put words into action to end discrimination, exclusion and lack of protection illustrated by the worsening murder rate of human rights defenders.

The joint statement from the Chairperson of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples reads as follows:

"It is now 10 years since the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted by the UN General Assembly, as the most comprehensive international human rights instrument for indigenous peoples. The Declaration, which took more than 20 years to negotiate, stands today as a beacon of progress, a framework for reconciliation and a benchmark of rights.

The Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, has issued additional observations regarding the process undertaken in Honduras for regulating prior consultation. These observations are part of the technical assistance that the Special Rapporteur has provided, at the request of the Government of Honduras, in connection with the preparation of a draft law on prior consultation. Following this request, in December 2016, the Special Rapporteur published her Commentary on the Draft Framework Law on Free, Prior and Informed Consultation of Indigenous and Afro-Honduran Peoples(in Spanish only) which pointed out problems with the substantive content and methodology used to develop and socialize the Draft Law.

At the invitation of the Government of Honduras, the Special Rapporteur carried out a working visit to Honduras from 17 to 20 April 2017 to follow up on the recommendations made in her Commentary and to meet with representatives of the Government, indigenous peoples and organizations, private enterprise, trade unions, civil society, the international community, the United Nations System and other stakeholders involved in this initiative on prior consultation. During the working visit, the Special Rapporteur noted that her previous recommendations had not yet been implemented.

GENEVA (13 July 2017) – Peru must suspend negotiations for a new contract to exploit one of the country's most productive oil areas until the rights of local indigenous peoples are protected, two United Nations human rights experts have said.

The area, known as Lot or Block 192, lies in a remote section of the Amazon rainforest in Peru's Loreto region, near the border with Ecuador. A 30-year contract for future extraction rights is under negotiation.

The Special Rapporteurs on hazardous substances and wastes, Baskut Tuncak, and on the rights of indigenous peoples, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, said they are making the call in the light of "grossly inadequate efforts" to provide remedies for previous widespread oil spills in the region.

GENEVA / WASHINGTON DC (8 June 2017) – Three United Nations experts and a rapporteur from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights have joined forces to denounce attacks on indigenous and environmental rights in Brazil.

"The rights of indigenous peoples and environmental rights are under attack in Brazil," said the UN Special Rapporteurs on the rights of indigenous peoples, Victoria Tauli Corpuz, on human rights defenders, Michel Forst, and on the environment, John Knox, and the IACHR Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Francisco José Eguiguren Praeli.

Over the last 15 years, Brazil has seen the highest number of killings of environmental and land defenders of any country, the experts noted, up to an average of about one every week. Indigenous peoples are especially at risk.

"Against this backdrop, Brazil should be strengthening institutional and legal protection for indigenous peoples, as well as people of African heritage and other communities who depend on their ancestral territory for their material and cultural existence," the experts stated. "It is highly troubling that instead, Brazil is considering weakening those protections."

The experts highlighted proposed reforms to the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI), the body which supports indigenous peoples in the protection of their rights, and which has already had its funding severely reduced. A report recently adopted by the Congressional Investigative Commission calls for the body to be stripped of responsibility for the legal titling and demarcation of indigenous lands. The experts were also concerned with allegations of illegitimate criminalization of numerous anthropologists, indigenous leaders and human rights defenders linked to their work on indigenous issues.

"This report takes several steps back in the protection of indigenous lands," the experts warned. "We are particularly concerned about future demarcation procedures, as well as about indigenous lands which have already been demarcated."

Questionnaire letter in English, French and Spanish from the Special Rapporteur onthe rights of indigenous peoples, Ms. Victoria Tauli-Corpuz

23 May 2017

To all Permanent Missions to the United Nations Office at Geneva

I am in the process of preparing this year's thematic report for the Human Rights Council on the impact of climate finance on the rights of indigenous peoples.

In the context of this report, I would appreciate and welcome your views and inputs on the impact of climate finance on indigenous people's rights. I am particularly interested in your outlook on the following issues.

Victoria Tauli Corpuz, the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and former Chair of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, recently talked with UN Women about engaging indigenous women in climate action during the 16th session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (24 April – 5 May, 2017). The Forum marked the 10-year anniversary of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and hosted a side event on indigenous women.

Ten years since the adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, what is the status of indigenous women now? Where have you seen the most progress and where are the gaps?

The most significant change in the past ten years since the Declaration was adopted, is that indigenous women have strengthened their organizations and networks. They are more engaged—and more number of indigenous women are engaged—in UN and intergovernmental processes. For example, this year was the first time in sixty years that the UN Commission on the Status of Women—the largest intergovernmental gathering on women's rights—focused on indigenous women's issues.